Fed. Government Shutdown Prompts WWII Museum Invitation To Veterans

The head of the National World War II Museum in New Orleans is extending an invitation to veterans groups that might find themselves unable to hold planned events at federal memorial sites or parks due to the government shutdown.

Museum chief executive Gordon H. Mueller notes in an emailed statement that the museum — an independent nonprofit operation — is not subject to the federal government shutdown.

World War II veterans from Mississippi and Iowa were, for a time, kept out of the World War II Memorial in Washington. Now, the National Park Service is making provisions to allow veterans groups into the memorial, but national parks and other commemorative sites remain closed.

That invitation comes amid growing worries over the effects the shutdown will have on the state's economy.

For many, the stakes and the scale of World War II are hard to fathom. It was a war fought around the world, against powerful, determined regimes in Europe and the Pacific; some 65 million people died. And as the number of people who have actual memories of the war dwindle — as of next year, there will be fewer than 1 million living veterans — the mission of the National World War II Museum in New Orleans becomes all the more urgent.